Yesterday during a South Carolina press conference, a reporter took Mitt Romney to task for claiming he doesn’t have lobbyists running his campaign and Romney returned fire with . . . something.

AP reporter Glenn Johnson  interrupted Romney and said, “That’s not true governor. That is not true. Ron Kaufman’s a lobbyist. How can you say that you don’t have lobbyists?” It is true that Kaufman is both a lobbyist and involved with Mitt Romney’s campaign. Romney went on the defense: “I said I don’t have lobbyists running my campaign and he’s not running my campaign.”

The unconvincing renunciation of lobbyists is neither new nor interesting. So, the media has tried to make something of Mitt Romney’s supposed outrage in response. But, as this clip of the incident demonstrates, Romney doesn’t do outrage very convincingly either. As the video reveals, he scolds the reporter with all the ferocity of a commercial airline pilot reporting on wind condition and ETA. Romney is a good face man, and a talented fixer, but this is no time for a smooth, safe, and comfortable presidency. When Bill Clinton flips he resembles a child having a tantrum and John McCain is capable of white-hot fury. Mitt Romney’s placid mien and financial and organizational know-how might make him, say, an excellent secretary of the treasury. But not a president.